Work Area
Customer Portals
We build customer portals: private, secure areas where your clients sign in to check an order, download an invoice, send a document, or ask for a change. Customers get answers without calling, and your staff work from the same record.
- 1,200+ clients helped
- Building since 2010
- 15 services, one team
- 50+ technologies
At a glance
What we build
We build customer portals: private areas of a website where signed-in customers see their own orders, documents, messages, and account details, and act on them.
Problems we solve
Customers phone or email to ask where things are, staff answer the same questions all day, and documents travel by unsafe attachments.
Who we serve
Organizations with repeat customers or clients, and service teams that spend time on status questions.
How to choose
Offer the few self-service tasks that customers ask for most, and make signing in simple and safe.
In practice
Self-service that customers actually use
We build secure areas where customers sign in and see their own information. A good portal answers common questions without a phone call and gives staff and customers one shared record.
Portals succeed when they answer the questions customers already ask: where is my order, can I have last month's invoice, who is working on my case?
They fail when they are built around what the organization finds convenient. We start with the customer's most frequent questions and build only what answers them.
What a customer sees in a portal
One customer's private area connected to: Orders and status: Where things stand.; Documents: Invoices, contracts, and reports.; Messages: A record of conversations.; Requests: Ask for help or changes.; Payments: Pay and see receipts.; Account details: Keep information current..
- Orders and statusWhere things stand.
- DocumentsInvoices, contracts, and reports.
- MessagesA record of conversations.
- RequestsAsk for help or changes.
- PaymentsPay and see receipts.
- Account detailsKeep information current.
What goes in it
Which kind of portal fits?
Portals differ by what customers need most.
What do your customers ask for most?
Choose this when
Customers ask where an order, job, or case stands.
- What you get
- A clear status view with notifications at each stage.
- Keep in mind
- Statuses must be kept current, or customers lose trust.
Choose this when
Customers need invoices, contracts, or reports.
- What you get
- A secure library, with search and download, replacing email attachments.
- Keep in mind
- Decide how long documents stay available.
Choose this when
Customers book, amend, or ask for help.
- What you get
- Forms that create tracked tasks for your staff.
- Keep in mind
- Promise only response times you can meet.
Access
Who can see what
Control over access is what makes a portal safe. We plan it with you before building.
| Role | Can see | Cannot see |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | Their own orders, documents, and messages. | Any other customer's information. |
| Customer administrator | Their organization's users and records. | Other organizations. |
| Your staff | Records they are assigned to, and tools to reply. | Records outside their role. |
| Portal manager | Settings and the access log. | Nothing hidden from the log. |
Signing in
How a customer gets in safely
Signing in should be easy for customers and hard for everyone else.
How a customer gets in safely
A sequence of 5 steps. The customer is invited: By email, with a one-time link.; They set a password: And add a second proof, such as a code.; They sign in: Quickly, on any device.; They see only their own records: Access is checked on every request.; Activity is logged: So unusual access can be investigated..
- The customer is invitedBy email, with a one-time link.
- They set a passwordAnd add a second proof, such as a code.
- They sign inQuickly, on any device.
- They see only their own recordsAccess is checked on every request.
- Activity is loggedSo unusual access can be investigated.
A typical example
Clients who stop phoning for documents
A typical case is a firm whose clients phone to ask for copies of documents and the state of their matter. Staff spend part of every day answering.
A portal could give each client a private area with their documents and a status view, and let them send a message. Most calls could be avoided, and staff would reply to messages in order.
Technology
Under the hood
For your developers and IT lead: our choices on identity and access and data protection, and the reasoning behind each.
We use established sign-in methods, such as OAuth, and a second step for sensitive areas, instead of building our own.
- Each customer's records are separated and checked on every request.
- Information is encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Access and changes are logged.
Tell us what customers ask most
List the questions customers ask most often. We will outline a portal that answers them without a call.